1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera, or more particularly, to a camera with a built-in strobe.
2. Related Background Art
Various models of strobe built-in type cameras have been commercialized in the past. Many models of cameras have made their debuts in recent years, wherein a zoom lens is incorporated as a means for providing sophisticated functions. In these cameras, a strobe is located at one end of a camera housing with respect to a lens barrel, and a gripping section of the camera housing and a release member are arranged at the other end of the camera housing. In a background of having determined the above arrangement of the members, an effort has been made to prevent a red-eye phenomenon by maximizing a distance d between a lens and a strobe. The red-eye phenomenon is correlated to an angle .theta.0 between a lens and a strobe with respect to a subject. To suppress the red-eye phenomenon, the angle .theta. must be increased; that is, the distance d must be increased. Examples of a camera satisfying these prerequisites will be described below.
FIG. 15 is a front view of a camera of a related art in which components are laid out to meet the above prerequisites.
In the first related art, as shown in FIG. 15, a cartridge chamber PT is located in the right-hand area (left in FIG. 15) of a camera housing and a spool chamber SP is located in the left-hand area of the camera housing. A lens barrel L is located between the cartridge chamber PT and spool chamber SP. A battery storage BT is located on the left-hand side of the spool SP. A strobe ST is located above the battery storage BT. In this layout, a distance d4 between the lens and strobe ST is long enough. RS, AF, F, and W in FIG. 15 respectively denote a release button, an auto-focus unit, a viewfinder unit, and a film wind/rewind gear array. Alphanumeric characters h4 and r4 denote a height of the camera housing and a distance between an optical axis and a right-hand side surface of the camera housing (side surface of a gripping section) respectively.
In the foregoing layout of the first related art, the distance r4 between the optical axis and right-hand side surface of the camera housing is so short that when a user holds the camera, the fingers of the right hand gripping the camera are likely to intrude into the front of the lens to intercept part of a beam. Moreover, since the user's thumb interferes with a projection of the lens barrel, the camera is hard to grip.
FIG. 16 is a front view of a camera of the second related art in which components are laid out to meet the foregoing prerequisites.
In the camera of the second related art, a battery storage BT is located on the right-hand area (left in FIG. 16) of a camera housing. This is a difference from the camera of the first related art. According to this layout, a distance d5 between a strobe ST and a lens barrel L becomes shorter than a distance d4 in the first related art. In the second related art, when the camera is put to practical use, the strobe ST is popped up in the arrow direction to provide a long distance d'5. Z denotes a zoom drive. Alphanumeric characters h5 and r5 denote a height of the camera housing and a distance from an optical axis to the right-hand side surface of the camera housing (side surface of a gripping section) similar to those in the first related art.
In the foregoing layout of the second related art, the distance r5 between the optical axis and the right-hand side surface of the camera housing is larger than the distance r4 in the first related art. Occurrence of the aforesaid drawbacks is diminished. However, since the strobe ST must be popped up as described above to avoid occurrence of a red-eye phenomenon resulting from a decrease in the distance d5 between the optical axis and the strobe, this related art is disadvantageous in terms of cost and space.
When a strobe and a gripping section of a camera housing are arranged with a lens barrel between as described above, the strobe occupies a large portion of the space of the camera housing. This is disadvantageous, in particular, to a compact camera which has been demanded to be more and more compact.
FIG. 17 is a front view of a third related art showing a single-lens reflex camera having a layout that meets the foregoing prerequisites.
The layout of the camera of the third related art greatly differs from the first and second related arts in a point that a strobe ST is located in the right-hand area (left in FIG. 17) of a camera housing: that is, on a gripping section of the camera housing. The appearance of the camera is shown in FIG. 18. A strobe 32 (aforesaid strobe ST) of a camera 31 is of a pop-up type. A release button 34 (release button RS)is located below the strobe 32 on the front of a camera housing 33 in a bid to prevent a finger from intruding into the strobe 32. As a result, a finger of a user's right hand for manipulating release comes to lie on the front of the camera housing 33 in a natural manner. This prevents a finger from intruding into the strobe 32 located above the release button 34.
The above layout has succeeded in increasing a distance d6 between a lens and a strobe ST. The strobe ST is designed, similarly to that in the second related art, to pop up in the arrow direction. Therefore, the distance d6 becomes further longer. MD and AD denote a mirror aperture drive unit and an auto-focus lens drive unit respectively. Alphanumeric characters h6 and r6 denote a distance from a release button RS to a bottom of a camera housing and a distance from an optical axis to a right-hand side surface of a camera housing (side surface of a gripping section) respectively.
In the foregoing layout of the third related art, the distance r6 between the optical axis and the right-hand side surface of the camera housing is relatively long. The aforesaid problems have thus been solved. However, since the strobe ST is located in the right-hand area of the camera, when a release button is located on the top of the camera, a beam traveling from the strobe ST may be intercepted by a finger. In an attempt to cope with this problem in this related art, a release button RS is arranged in the right-hand area of the front of the camera. However, in this layout, the index to little fingers of the right hand gripping the camera housing stays in an area equivalent to a distance h6 from the release button RS to the bottom of the camera housing. When the distance h6 is held equal to the distance h4 of the first related art, a space allocated to each of the fingers shrinks to disable stable gripping. When the distance h6 is increased in an attempt to improve grip-ability, the camera housing cannot help being made larger.
One of the prerequisites for a camera is to solve a problem that a photographer intercepts a strobe beam with his/her finger.
FIGS. 19 and 20 are front views of a general camera in which the above problem is solved, thus showing a fourth related art.
In the camera of the fourth related art, a release button 42 is located on the right-hand area (left in FIGS. 19 and 20) of the top of a camera housing 40, and a strobe 44 is located on the left-hand (right in FIGS. 19 and 20) upper area of the front of tile camera housing 40. Below the strobe 44, a projection 46 is formed on the front of the camera housing 40 to prevent a finger from intruding into the strobe 44. Specifically, when a user senses the projection 46 with the left hand, the user refrains from extending his/her finger beyond the projection 46. Thus, the projection 46 prevents a finger from intruding into the strobe 44.
In the foregoing fourth related art, similarly to a majority of general cameras on the market, the release button 42 is located on the right-hand area of and the top of the camera housing 40. Therefore, the positions of the fingers of the right hand are specified in a natural manner; that is, the index finger rests on the release button 42, the middle, ring, and little fingers stay on the front of the camera housing 40, and the thumb rests on the back of the camera housing 40. On the other hand, the positions of the fingers of the left hand are hardly specified. This is because the left hand does not take part in release manipulation but plays mere a supplementary role in holding a camera housing. Besides, a way of gripping a camera with the left hand varies from user to user. In particular, when taking photographs, a user is usually not conscious of the presence of the projection 46. As shown in FIG. 20, therefore, a finger of the left hand may screen the strobe 44 without sensing the projection 46. In this case, the user is unaware that his/her finger has intruded into the strobe 44, and takes a photograph.